


like cardiac arrest (high voltage in her lips)

by hearden



Series: ranger lovefest [7]
Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Angst, F/M, jason is a hot mess and tommie is a trans girl and also kelsey chow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2019-02-11 10:41:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12933540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hearden/pseuds/hearden
Summary: Jason has never had a good sense of self-control.





	like cardiac arrest (high voltage in her lips)

**Author's Note:**

> for green/red ships ranger lovefest
> 
> i don't give two damns about tommy oliver but suddenly every tommy ship becomes more interesting when tommy is a girl
> 
> that's a proven fact, trust me i'm a scientist so here have some straight-up angst

The new kid starts a fight on her first Monday at school.

It's over before Jason can even see it. In fact, it happens some time between third period, so he's in class and, therefore, cannot see it. Neither can the rest of the school, which means, by lunch, the stories are out of hand.

He gets two names out of the mess, though: Tommie Oliver and Colt Wallace.

Colt walks into first lunch with a slight limp and sunglasses on, and Jason can't help but snicker to himself.

"Couldn't bully someone his own size, so he tried to pick on a girl? Worked out  _ great _ ," Jason jokes, watching as Colt grumpily sits down across the cafeteria at a table with his friends. He sees Jason's staring and glares; Jason holds it until Trini pokes him in the side.

"Maybe  _ don't _ egg him on?" she mutters, frowning.

Jason shrugs, apologetically, "What, I can't be a little smug?"

"Zordon would want you to be humble," Billy offers, between bites of his burger.

Kim glances around the cafeteria, "Yeah, this  _ Oliver _ seems to be real humble. She was supposed to be in History with me for fourth period but didn't show up."

Zack raises his eyebrows, "Maybe we  _ should _ see the other girl, then."

 

-

 

Tommie Oliver doesn't show up at all for the rest of the week.

The rumors spill over by Tuesday and just keep gaining traction all through the week. Since Colt still comes every day, he controls -- or tries to control -- the way the rumor mill spins out new threads for everyone else to pull at.

Every day that Tommie doesn't show up, it becomes more and more believable that Colt actually did a number on her, and Jason finds that he doesn't like how his stomach churns at the idea at all.

 

-

 

Saturday comes, and a new kid walks into detention.

She's late -- horribly late -- for attendance, and Jason eyes the empty chair in the chair with a green jacket draped over it for minutes, waiting, after Mr. Walker calls out her name.

Jason is well into half of The Great Gatsby when the classroom door squeaks open, and footsteps thud down the stairs. He looks up and loses his breath.

Tommie Oliver is… wow.

Kim and Trini sit rows ahead of him, and he sees them out of the corner of his eye shooting each other sly glances. Zack is somewhere behind him that Jason quite doesn't want to turn around to make sure, but the low whistle that echoes around the room is most definitely his.

She soaks it all up with a smug grin that reminds Jason of when Kim had first shed her skin, and he swallows his doubts. There's not a scratch on her, no evidence that Colt had even lain a hand on her, and the swagger that takes her to her desk is confident, sure.

He risks a glance behind him to the other corner of the room at Colt and sees him, lips pressed together in a thin line, shrinking into his seat.

 

-

 

When detention lets out, he jogs to catch up to Tommie.

"Hey, uh," he pauses for a second when she turns around, eyebrows raised at him, "Hey."

"Hi."

Jason can feel the others lagging some way behind him, watching expectantly. "Jason Scott," he says, offering his hand forward, "I like your jacket."

Tommie chuckles and shakes his hand, "Thanks. Yeah, I know. I saw your trophy case. Tommie Oliver -- with an ie."

"It's, uh, the football team's trophy case," he mutters, sheepishly, "Tommie with an ie? That's a nice name."

"Thanks, I picked it out myself."

He pauses, momentarily taken off-guard, long enough for her to shake her head and laugh at her own joke.

"See you around, Jason," she says, turning around to leave.

"Wait, uh," he glances back at the others; Zack helplessly shrugs, and Kim and Trini glance at each other then nod at him in sync, "Would you like to hang out with us? Like, at the Grove? That's, you know, the mall."

"I know what the mall is," Tommie says with a teasing smile.

Oh, boy.

"But, yeah, sure," she pulls her jacket tighter around her body, "I'll come hang."

He smiles, too excitedly for his pride, and nods, "Cool."

"Cool."

 

-

 

She kisses him the next week when they all go out to the mall after detention.

Zack drops a cheesy line about the gang splitting up and being meddling kids then drags Billy off to the Barnes & Noble at one end of the mall while Kim and Trini make a beeline for Build-A-Bear to get some gifts for the twins' birthday.

Jason doesn't really know what to expect happen, but Tommie grabs his hand, says something about needing some new jeans, and takes off. Her hand is warm and surprisingly soft in his, and he mentally crosses off a few of the rumors floating around school about her being kicked out of the last school she was at for beating up a teacher.

"Hold this," Tommie says, handing him her treasured jacket before disappearing into the fitting rooms. He awkwardly stands there and waits, holding onto her jacket, slightly tapping his foot at the pop music crackling out over the mall speakers.

She comes back out, adjusting a pair of olive green pants on her hips, "How do I look?"

"Uh," he falters, "Good."

Tommie raises an eyebrow, "You hesitated."

"I…" he clears his throat, "I hesitated because you're just, you're wow."

She scoffs a little, "I'm  _ wow _ ?"

"I mean, you're… you don't think you're wow?"

"No, I  _ know _ I am, but you could really do with using your words," Tommie says with a chuckle.

Jason tries again, "You look nice. But."

"Oh, there's a but?"

He holds her jacket up, "Those shade of those jeans don't go with your jacket."

Tommie tilts her head, "Someone'll just have to wear it for me, then. Would you?"

Green's not really his color, and with the red shirt he's wearing, he'll look like a dumb Christmas tree in the middle of September, but… "Yeah, if you asked me to, I guess."

She waits, and he goes, "Oh."

Jason puts her jacket on and straightens out the sleeves. It's only slightly tight on him and the hem sits a couple of inches over his t-shirt, but it's a good fit.

Tommie leans up and fixes the collar then tugs on the jacket and pulls him into a kiss.

He freezes on the spot and is still processing when she steps away, a smirk on her lips, and goes back into the fitting room.

The taste on her lips is something he can't quite pin down, but the sensation leaves him grinning.

 

-

 

The Green Ranger attacks the following Monday.

He doesn't have any classes with Tommie, but she has lunch with all of them, so when Zack whoops and claps him on the back, the butterflies in Jason's stomach scatter around excitedly.

"Do you guys have any plans?" Billy asks, curiously, and Jason shrugs.

"I mean, I don't know. She just kissed me and then we just kinda… didn't talk about it, that's all. I'll probably ask her out, like, end of the week or something?"

"Don't wait  _ too _ long," Kim mutters, and Trini steps on her foot, earning her a frown.

"Speaking of waiting," Zack asks, "Where is she?"

"Late as usual, probably," Trini says, wryly.

The earthquake alarm goes off, a second before the actual earthquake passes through.

The walls shake, and the alarm wails, jolting students around the cafeteria and digging an annoying drill into Jason's brain. He grabs Zack's arm and tries to stay steady on his feet. Kim and Trini hold onto each other, and Billy fumbles with a pair of ear plugs from his pocket, frowning as he puts them into his ears.

Okay, earthquake earthquake earthquake-- A Putty crashes through the cafeteria wall, snapping an empty table in half with its foot.

"That's no earthquake," Trini deadpans. She's pulling everyone else into the girls' bathroom before Jason can form a response.

Billy checks the stalls and makes sure that there's nobody else in there then stands in front of the door and blocks it, "Okay, we're good."

Jason nods, shaking the nuisance of the alarm to the back of his mind, "Alright. It's morphin' time."

 

-

 

The street is full of Putties, overturning cars and smashing through stores, and in front of them all, stands a figure in green armor, almost exactly the same as the red that sticks to Jason's skin now. A gold shield shimmers over the chestplate of the figure's armor as they turn around to regard the five Rangers behind them.

"Is that… Rita?" Kim asks, incredulously, dropping into a fighting stance.

"If it is," Zack mutters, "She's missing her staff thing."

"Scepter," Billy adds.

Trini shakes her head, "I don't think this is Rita. She couldn't fully form her armor when she came into my house."

"Doesn't matter who this is," Jason says, "If they attack first, then they're against us."

The Green Ranger tilts their head, still silent, and Jason decides to step forward, Trini making a small noise of protest behind him.

"Hey!" he calls out, "Whoever you are, we're here to get rid of these Putties, so either you're here to help us or…"

He tenses as the Green Ranger raises their arm then points straight at him.

They say nothing, but the Putties understand some unspoken command and charge at the Rangers.

"Shit, not on our side," Zack balks.

As a team, they launch into combat, tearing Putties apart left and right. It's easy.

Too easy.

He glances at the Green Ranger, just standing there, off to the side, watching them with silent curiosity, and shouts at Billy who's nearest to him, "I'm going for the green guy!"

That catches the Green Ranger's attention, and they look at him as he leaps and lands feet away from them, his knees cracking the pavement.

"I don't know what you want, but I don't wanna fight you--" he starts.

"That's too bad," a female voice drifts out of the helmet, mocking and condescending.

Jason stops. That voice--

A fist collides with his helmet, and he goes flying, his back slamming into the brick walls of a shop, the debris crumbling around him.

He blinks. The sky. He can see the sky.

Screams. Zack's voice, calling out for him. The others. Glass shattering, buildings breaking.

Chaos.

His visor. Broken. With a simple thought in his mind, he pulls the rest of the visor back, taking in a strained breath. One of his ribs is cracked. Maybe more. 

A weight is lifted off of him. Green hands toss some rubble aside, and a green helmet leans over into his line of vision. "Jason Scott," the Green Ranger says, tauntingly.

His brow furrows in confusion. "How…?" he asks, hoarsely.

The Green Ranger's visor recedes, and Tommie smiles down at him, all teeth and no softness.

She kneels down, still grinning, and presses a short kiss to his lips as he feels his vision start to fade, "How do I look?"

 

-

 

While he heals, Jason takes his anger out in The Pit. It's counter-intuitive, and it's absolutely the worst idea, but he does it because, if he punches a hologram Putty hard enough, maybe he'll be able to get rid of the disappointment in his chest.

"Jason," Trini calls out, and he turns around, fuming and angry and  _ hurt _ , God, so hurt.

She walks to him as he stands still and reaches down, prying his fingers out of the fists he's clenched them into. "We're going to get her," she says, softly, "We know what we're up against, now. We're going to bring her back."

He stares down as his palms. Small half-crescents, achingly red, break into his skin. "You don't want me there," he states.

"No, we  _ do, _ " Trini argues, shaking her head.

"I'm too involved."

"But we're a team," she shrugs and shoves her hands into her pockets, "And she's a part of this team, too."

 

-

 

Jason taps on Tommie’s bedroom window, and after she stares at him blankly for a minute, she slides it open and he hops through.

“What’re you doing here?” she asks, crossing her arms.

He glances at her bed. Clothes are strewn around on the sheets, and a half-full duffel bag lays open next to her pillows.

“I just… wanted to see how you were doing,” he offers, uselessly.

“I’m leaving,” she states, frowning, “For awhile.”

Now, he sees it. Her eyes are softer than before, and whatever smirk danced on the edge of her lips during her every waking moment is gone.

He nods, solemnly, “I know. We’ll be here for you when you get back.”

Her eyes harden, and her jaw sets. “You don’t know me, Jason.”

He wants to argue that he does but swallows his argument and stays silent in understanding. “I’ll go,” Jason says, quietly.

“Please do.”

He leans over and gives her a quick kiss on the cheek before he leaves.

**Author's Note:**

> title from Cardiac Arrest - Bad Suns


End file.
